me of the stone circles on the moor are due to miners rather
than to prehistoric man, their antiquity may very well win respect; for,
according to the views of the early nineteenth century, it was quite
probable that the Phoenicians were trading with this island for tin in
the year 1000 B.C.! It is unnecessary to say that the reasoning which
supports this theory is very ingenious, and later opinions do not allow
that the Phoenicians ever traded directly with Britain at all. The
metal, it is held, was brought to the Mediterranean coast through the
medium of 'the Veneti of what is now Vannes, and the tin trade was
carried through Gaul to Marseilles.' To take a great leap from the date
originally suggested, there is certain evidence that British tin was
conveyed over this trade route in the year 40 B.C. The Romans taught the
Britons better methods of mining, and how tin might be used for
household needs. Another long interval without any mention of the
subject brings us to the reign of the Normans, when it seems that the
mines were almost entirely in the hands of the Jews. On their expulsion
by Edward I, the mines were neglected for a few years, and next a
charter was granted to several Devonshire gentlemen, at their request,
conferring the important privilege of holding plea of all actions
relating to the mines, 'those of lyfe, lymme, and lande' excepted.
Henceforward the Devonshire miners were separated from the Cornish, and
held stannary parliaments on the top of Crockern Tor. The summit is
piled with granite, and out of the rock was hewn 'a warden's or
president's chair, seats for the jurors, and a high corner stone for the
crier of the court, and a table,' says Polwhele; and here the 'hardy
mountain council'--twenty-four burgesses from each of the stannary
towns--assembled. 'This memorable place is only a great rock of
moorstone, out of which a table and seats are hewn, open to all the
weather, storms and tempests, having neither house nor refuge near it by
divers miles,' wrote Prince. It is much to be regretted that nearly all
traces of the court have now disappeared, and a report says that the
table and seats were carried away to be used for some buildings not far
off. It is said that the last parliament was held on this tor in 1749,
but for some time before that date the court merely met on the tor, and,
after the jurors had been sworn in, adjourned to one of the stannary
towns.

From the charter of Edward I onward